KARACHI: The legal fraternity boycotted courts’ proceedings across the province on Wednesday in protest against ‘murderous’ attack on the president of the Karachi Bar Association (KBA) in Karachi last night.

In the metropolis, lawyers observed full-day strike in City Courts and Malir court and barring some suspects brought for remand and a few litigants, who were let in through designated gates, all other entrances to the City Courts remained closed.

The KBA, meanwhile, convened a general body meeting at the KBA office premises where its president Aamir Nawaz Warraich, his head wrapped in bandage and face visibly swollen, bearing signs of injuries, described the attack on him on Tuesday night and said as he reached Café Bogie restaurant on I.I. Chandigarh Road, four to five men attacked him from behind before fleeing the scene.

He claimed that he had been receiving threats from the “establishment” for several days and that some of his friends were also asking him to step back from the issue related to six canals. “I told them that being the president of Sindh’s largest bar [KBA], it is my duty to stand up for the rights of the people of the province,” he added.

He denied the allegations, which were levelled against him by an unidentified woman in a video circulating on social media, and explained that the purported video showed the woman was acting on behalf of the “establishment.”

He said that he initially had no intention of registering an FIR as he knew who was behind the attack and believed police would not be able to take any action against them.

Mr Warraich said that since the announcement of lawyers’ convention at the City Courts on April 12, he had warned that a protest would be held against the canals. “We had said that if our demands are not met within 72 hours, we would block the Sindh-Punjab border and halt railway tracks,” he said.

The general body meeting was already scheduled for Wednesday to commemorate lawyers who were killed in April 9 Tahir Plaza incident, in which an office was set ablaze and four persons including a lawyer were burnt to death. The meeting also expressed solidarity with Palestinians and condemned Israeli atrocities.

Legal proceedings remained partially suspended at the Sindh High Court as most of the lawyers stayed away from the court.

Sindh High Court Bar Association General Secretary Mirza Sarfaraz Ahmed said they had also observed a strike in protest against the attack on the KBA president. The association had requested the chief justice not to issue strict orders against lawyers who failed to appear due to the strike, he said.

In Larkana, lawyers of High Court Bar Association and District Bar Association protested against attack on KBA president and staged a rally.

The bars’ leaders said that a lawyers’ convention was scheduled to be held on April 12 in Karachi. “We see it as an attack on entire lawyers’ community,” they said, adding the attack was aimed at checking the lawyers’ pulse.

The lawyers’ gathering passed a resolution against the attack and termed it shameful. It was not merely an attack on an individual, but a direct assault on the legal fraternity, the independence of the bar, and the constitutional freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution of Pakistan, it said.

In Nawabshah and its adjoining towns, lawyers boycotted courts proceedings and demanded immediate arrest of the culprits involved in the attack on KBA president.

They said that state must be reminded that the legal fraternity would not be silenced, threatened or coerced into submission. “We will resist every unconstitutional move and we will not bow before tyranny,” they said.

Taluka bars of Sakrand, Qazi Ahmed and other towns also boycotted court proceedings in solidarity with the KBA president.

In Jacobabad, DBA members staged a demonstration and sit-in outside the bar office against attack on KBA president and construction of canals.

DBA Sukkur also held a demonstration demanded immediate arrest of the culprits involved in the attack on KBA president.

Published in Dawn, April 10th, 2025